Mugen Cosplay + Anime North 2007
My costume is done! And it was road tested yesterday at the extremely awesome Anime North 2007 convention here in Toronto.
Major props to my mom for an amazing sewing job, although I will take some of the credit for measuring, cutting, threading and the overall managing of the project. After putting on the final touches of blue body paint and big hair (thanks to my wife and personal hairdresser Marijke) I became Mugen. Head over to flickr for a photo set of my costume in action. For more on the making of this costume, check out this earlier blog post.
And why did I put in all this effort? Dozens of hours of work and dedication? To join my people, the over 15,000 anime fans who descended on the Toronto Congress Centre this weekend for Canada’s biggest fan-run anime convention. It was fantastic: astonishing outfits, a really positive vibe, I got hugged and photographed A LOT, an expanded dealer’s room where I picked up some Death Note and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service manga super cheap, and thousands of people who totally understand me and my 
obsession. I’m twice as old as most of them, but when it comes to age/gender/ethnicity, it matters not to the anime fan.
Here’s another flickr set, this one dedicated to cosplay at the convention. Yeah, I know, I’m in almost half of the pictures, but once I found out about the whole “faceoff” thing – posing with other characters in mock battle – I couldn’t stop myself. At left, I’m posing with Pan from Lelola.net, the first cosplayer I ever interviewed for CBC Radio 2 years ago at CN Anime. Her appreciation of my costume was the most meaningful compliment I received all day.
I am Otaku 
wicked costume, and the poses are fantastic! I’m not an anime fan myself, but I do appreciate all the effort the cosplayers make. Good work♪
Nice job! Love the steely glare…
you are the best OTAKU thet weve ever seen!!!・∀・
I hardly know about Mugen but you look so AWESOME OTAKU!
we are not familiar with anime, but we like death note. it is so popular in japan.
your costume is just amazing! we always welcome you to japan.
bye
what a nice cosplay it is!!
so nice and fantastic!!!
id like to cosplay with you.
you should go to akihabara and go to a maid cafe!
there are many things which you like, like anime.
am student exchange for 1 year in japan, i live in real japanese family and you need to calm down. wath you think about japan is only the fake vision of the westerner, the big part of wath you talk about is the entertainement and the reality is we can find more gaijin doing manga costume than real japanese. i like japan but before talking how great it is , you need to look for the bad thing to, after you can enjoy!
you are so good.
you should go to the Akihabara because there are many japanese cartoon.
My favorite cartoon is YUYUHAKUSHO. There is a boy who goes on adventure.
I recommend this cartoon. If you have a chance, please watch this one.
Wonderful costume. With fans uptight over some bad press by a certain group of individuals, it was the most excellent way to break the ice with fans.
I listened to the broadcast on Q and I just wished there was a podcast of the segment. Maybe (please) you can include it on your site.
Hi Pedro,
I’m the head of the Cosplay Events department at Anime North and a huge CBC fan. I was happy to hear your show about Anime North 2007, and I’m thrilled that you’re such a big fan of cosplay.
The show was wonderful and a very postitive view of the hobby of cosplaying/costuming. I was amused that you interviewed Pan. She seems to pop up everywhere. 😀
There is only two comments regarding information on the show.
First, many, many, North American cosplayers spend hundreds of hours on their costumes and create incredible works of costume art, and are quite dedicated to the hobby. True with it being so wildly popular here, there are all level of cosplays, but I do not belive that Japanese costumers are any more dedicated than Canadian ones. Yes many japanese cosplayers are also quite dedicated to making their costumes, however cosplay shops are much more prolific in Japan, and wearing store bought cosplay is more common, and more accepted.
Secondly, there seems to be a mistaken impression that japanese cosplayers wear their costumes around everywhere and regularly. In fact quite the opposite is true. At the big conventions there are most often designated Cosplay areas, and attendees are asked to change when arriving and before leaving the convention.
Enjoyed your segment. I hope you return to Anime North, (in cosplay of course!), and have a blast in 2008.
Cheers!
~Dawn (Kaijugal)
OMG! I totally saw you there. You were the best Mugen ever!
YOUR COSTUME IS AWESOME IM BEING MUGEN THIS YEAR TO